Essy The Poet

By Sr. Esther Jeruto Koros (OSF) I was only four when my little brother was born Frail and soft like wool, I wanted to hold him, Corn With feet straightened out, seated perpendicular For the first time, I realized people just appear I asked where they got it from and when it would return A smile of amusement, my mama said, babies don’t return   That was my first lesson on life.   I was only five, when I saw the raindrops fall in solid mass I kept some in my secret bag to show mum after mass And for the first time, I realized things just vanish I tried explaining my discovery, in disappointment and anguish But she didn’t need the explaining at all A smile of understanding, my mama said they’re called hail That was my first lesson on magic.   I was only eight when I got ready for baptism Come in white dresses holding candles, said him And for the first time, I realized I might miss the rite Because candles and dresses had to be timed ...

By Sr. Esther Jeruto Koros  Sipping local brew Chewing roasted corn Keeping warm near the glowing embers Naming the images on the moon And lessons about the stars. When all cows are milked; When children’s bellies are swollen from rich ghee, And they gaily chase after fireflies, When women’s laugher pierce the roofs, And the young wives shyly heavy with child. When the menfolk clear throats to disguise their pride, When the old river gushes by speaking calm and promise, People all one in thought, rhythm and animated glee; The things incomprehensible in the Western world, Then you know in this part of the world, It’s Christmas, and Christmas is every day. © October 2020  

By Sr. Esther Jeruto Koros  My friend Okiri Mokiri, wouldn’t help himself lying He lied about his actual name, his intellectual capabilities His home village, his missing left ear, his James bond vehicle His carnal abilities, his wife at home But there was something true about his lies….. We believed him.   The truth in Okiri Mokiri, lay beneath the talking He talked at you, until you became an avid audience. He described his successes until your own achievement felt limb and dim. In his scars; the missing left ear, the broken tooth, the haphazard air You would feel guilty at your own completeness. His carnal prowess from which sprung triplets after triplets; You would want to rush home and create a life. He cruised through the bumpy, craggy terrains, Other drivers parked aside, ashamed at the opulence of their own cars; Their eyes wet with admiration.   My friend Okiri Mokiri, an honest liar; Died a sudden and lonely death, died by t...

By  Sr. Esther Jeruto Koros (OSF) There’s something deceptive when riding in a bus, a train or worse even, a plane. A vain feel of superiority, You feign forgetfulness, A temporary feeling of permanency, Looking down upon things and beings all tiny, When above and beyond. It is a foolish thing, A brief bout of blindness, Like a short-lived exquisite beaming dream, Before the fun starts, it’s over. And you have to be one with the tiny beings. Such is the vanity of a rich man, Such is the vanity of the gambler, There’s a tiny bit of this of everyone…. Some more than others; A measure of wisdom, I would call.   © October 2020       

By Sr. Esther Jeruto Koros (OSF) I have watched the world; How desires can cause a fire The hunting race getting crazier Deep down within was a dark desire How I wished he would hunt me down relentlessly.   I have watched the world; You know you have won when you get him in a tux Or quarters of matching Ankara in the tropics.    Bingo! I got mine cock tailed; Ankara and tuxedoes and laces   Because he is limitless and boundless He dances for me in the sky, on the hills, in the ocean.   You want to know why? He made them! © October 2020 0726179789 

By Sr. Esther Jeruto Koros (OSF) I believe in one day, a lengthy Christmas day  I believe in one day, the best of days I believe in one day, free of all dismay I believe in one day, when faith won’t sway I believe in one day, that day is forever.   When snakes won’t hide, when dogs won’t bite When the deer male, will caress lion’s mane When brutes and savages, are all ravaged When danger is beyond recall, joy unfathomable to all I believe in one day, that day is forever.   I believe in one day, when my muses will have faces When metaphors of paradise, will need no guise When utterances will be whimsical, and voices all musical When love is the rule, and contentment absolute I believe in one day, that day is forever.   I believe in one day, the day that knows no end For such is the hope, I need to cope For such is faith, grasp of the unseen For such is love, the command of the dove I believe in one day, flawlessly complete. ...

By Sr. Esther Jeruto Koros (OSF) ) For years, I sought magic, And when it wasn’t forthcoming, I shunned its very existence.   Then like a jigsaw puzzle, it dawned on me. Great ideas like to sneak in When hands are bare. Such great loss! An ecstatic union occurs When a mind, a pen and a paper are timed right. It’s a holy union only known to angels. A ‘pen-gasm’.   0726179789  essyjeru@gmail.com October 2020

By Sr. Esther Jeruto Koros (OSF) My Rabi ,                                                                                   The man, from whom oozed wisdom I listened to him in my boredom ‘When you succeed in one achievement, It crushes the dread of impossibility Your hunting gets stained in impurity Beware,’ he said, ‘These achievements are the mills Which keep you hungry for the unknown.’   With a tear in my eye, I rose up high And I said to him, ‘You may be old and your hair golden But your ignorance of possessions, isn’t it a shame? Because your molten wells are rich with humus And nobody to harvest.’   I slammed the door, intent not to hear him But I still heard like a gentle mantle over me ‘You have run out of love.’ Decades lat...

By Sr. Esther Jeruto Koros (OSF) While daylight illumines and none imagines       Laughter is loud and smiles go miles Arms care and guns are bare Though the daylight shines and moonlight’s fair When darkness falls, let it find me in your arms   While I solely am, and think alone A strapping she, needing no he Emptiness isn’t and easiness is Though the feet, feel feeble not When darkness falls, let it find me in your arms   While efforts fly, in joy I cry Dreams all beam, and wishes are fished While I get famed, and the she untamed Though walking warmly, and not lonely When darkness falls, let it find me in your arms   I target as I churn, a place of no return I hold a desire, the world to sire I hope to sleep, and in joy weep Concealed in seeming glamour, with nuggets of splendor When darkness falls, let it find me in your arms © June 2010

By Sr. Esther Jeruto Koros (OSF) Who will cry for the little girl, crying her eyes scarlet? Who will cry for the little girl, who knows very little and understands none? Who will cry for the little girl, whose heart is shredded goblets? Who will cry for the little girl, who dreads the next rising sun? Who will cry for the little girl, whose budding dreams are dimmed? Who will cry for the little girl, who’s cocooned in distrust?   There’s a class she attended, wherein she learnt to hope. There’s a church she went, wherein she obtained faith. There’s home she came to know, wherein she knew trust. There are slopes soft and fervent, whereon she chewed shamrocks. There is a river she swum, wherein she felt gleeful. And there is a thick webbed bamboo, under which she picked gooseberries.     Then a face so familiar, formerly tender, ruined it all; The face was the good person she had grown to know. The face was her Father, her uncle, her brothe...